YuGiOh Mystery of the Lightside
by BoogiepopShippuden
Summary: OC Story- They call themselves the servants of the Octogram, but what could they possibly want with an ordinary duelist like Ryan Akimoto? Could it have to do with his missing cousin, Yuu? Ryan's deck is powerful, but it'll take brains to win these duels!
1. Ryan's Impossible Feat: Full Prediction

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Death Note, Code Geass, or Spiral or Boogiepop or Kingdom Hearts**

**If you want the full story, check out my GX story Broken Dreams, or just stick with this ^^  
**

**Author's Note: Just something I'm writing for fun, don't expect me to update too often. Anyway yeah there's a major resemblance to Spiral….Man I wish I could write something that good.**

. . .

The sixteen-tear-old teen smiled as he fanned through the cards in his deck. "Looks like everything is in order," he said to himself. He quickly rose from his chair and examined himself quickly. He adjusted his red tie and began smoothing on some wrinkles in his beige slacks. He adjusted the collar of his white shirt and picked a piece of fluff out of his black hair. "Heh, I can't wait to duel someone with my new deck, I'm going to blow them away for sure." He glanced around the empty classroom, looking for another student. "Guess I better go find someone, maybe I can go check out the dueling club."

"Do you always talk to yourself like that, Ryan?" Asked a girl.

"Shizune!" He complained. "What have I told you about sneaking up on me?" His warm blue eyes stared at the girl in shock. She had short blonde hair and wore the school uniform, a white and pink sailor fuku. "Stupid ninja girl."

"So, I hear you're looking for someone to duel," she said with a smile. She reached for the deck case strapped to her left thigh. "I'm game if you are."

Ryan reached for his Duel Disk but stopped. A loud scream pierced the air and caught his attention. "Did you hear that? Shizune, where did you?" He sighed as he spun around to see his friend running out the door.

"Hurry up, it came from the library," she told him.

Students poured into the hall and clogged the path. Ryan forced his way through the crowd, trying to make his way through to the library. "What do you think happened?" He called out to Shizune.

"I have no clue," she answered. She was having much better luck with her trip. She worked her way through the sea oh students by weaving around everyone in her way. She ducked under one person and crawled through another's legs. "Sorry, pardon me, coming through," she said with a smile.

Ryan struggled to keep up with her progress, but smiled when he found a way to move past most of the crowd. He slipped through a small gap in the mass of people and reached for the library door. He gripped the cold metal handle tightly in his hand and tried to push the door open. It wouldn't budge. "Oh, right," he slapped himself on the head as he slid his ID through a scanner on the side of the door. A light flashed green and the door opened. _'I hate these things. They really want to keep track of our every movement.'_

The cold air gushed out as he stepped onto the grey carpet. "What happened?" He asked.

The crowd of students turned to him quickly. Ryan saw a small girl huddled in the corner, crying. The librarian stepped toward Ryan and shook her head. "Don't worry too much, she's fine. Someone just stole her deck. She said her brother gave it to her for her birthday. It really means a lot to her."

Ryan smiled. "I understand how important a deck can be to a person." He grinned. "So, what's your name?" He asked the crying girl.

"My name's Maki," she sniffed.

"What kind of deck was it?" Ryan questioned further.

"A-an Elemental Hero deck. I'm a huge fan of Judai's so I always wanted to try using a Hero deck, but I could never get the right cards. My brother worked so hard to get those cards for me; I don't want to tell him the cards were stolen."

"Well, dry your eyes, Maki. I swear to you I'll find your cards. Just tell me everything and I guarantee you I can figure out who stole your deck."

"And how are you going to do that?" Shizune asked from behind him.

"Ah!" Ryan fell over. "Shizune, how many times have I told you? Stop sneaking up on me." He looked around at the library as he stood up. Countless books lined dozens of shelves. They were mostly tidy except for a small patch of books nearby. They looked like someone had knocked a few over.

Maki wiped her eyes dry and cracked a smile. "Thanks so much. So, tell me what do you need to know?"

Ryan grinned. "Well, that's easy. First of all, where did you leave your deck, do you keep it in a deck case, where were you, and how long were you gone?"

"I, I left my deck on that table over there, I had it in a black deck case with my name on it" she said, pointing to an empty table. "I left to go to the bathroom; I know I shouldn't have left it. I should have taken it with me but I didn't think anyone would steal it. I just needed to wash my hands. They were sticky from the orange I had for lunch. I was gone for only about two minutes."

"Wait, counting or not counting the time it took to walk to the restroom."

"Counting. I was only in there for about twenty seconds. I didn't even use soap; I just wanted to rinse my hands."

Ryan smiled. "Okay, just give me some time and I'll piece the pieces together."

"Oh really?" Shizune sighed. "Since when are you some great detective?" She teased.

Ryan simply nodded with a smile. "Just give me some time," he said as he walked toward the exit door. _'There are two doors, one coming in and one coming out. Sure you could go either way with a door, and nobody would really care if you went out the in door, but I'm sure the librarian would at least notice if someone waltzed in and out, right? No, they could have been looking for a friend.' _His mind searched though the possibilities."Anyone acting suspicious lately?" He asked the librarian. "Like say, they just came in for a few seconds and left?"

More students filed in through the door and joined the gathering.

"No, not that I would really notice," she admitted. "People come and go all the time."

"Well, I'll trust your memory on this. So, assuming that's true, the thief would either have been in here before Maki, or they'd have to be someone who remained even after Maki left for the restroom. So, Maki, what did you do when you got out of the restroom?"

"I saw that my deck was missing from the table and I screamed. I ran over and searched everywhere. I even looked in my bag, thinking I might have put it in there and forgotten."

"Hearing a scream would attract most people's attention. It'd take someone extremely callous to just ignore you. So I assume most people would have turned to you and asked you what was wrong."

"Should you really be making so many assumptions?" A female student asked.

"Yeah, she's right," another student agreed.

"Work with me people," Ryan sighed. "Just, give me the benefit of the doubt." He pondered over things for a moment. "I'll admit I'm no L, Lelouch, or Ayumu, but it's easy to see the problem here. The window of timing is too small for someone to steal the deck under normal circumstances. They probably didn't even realize they had to be in that much of a rush. They probably assumed Maki had to pee, so they would have tried to act casual to avoid suspicion. That means that they'd be taking their time, and she could have caught them at any second. Now, if we can shrink the window of opportunity we can come to a conclusion.

"I know I'm basing a lot of what I'm saying on assumptions, but I'm sure that the thief didn't walk out of here with the deck. One question"

"You mean, he's still here?" Shizune asked. "How do you figure?"

"It's really simple," Ryan said with a smile. "Nobody can get in and out of the library without using their ID right?" Ryan waited for the other students to nod. _'Time to pull off a little sleight of mind,' _he thought.

Ryan cleared his throat. "If someone did steal Maki's deck and they tried to leave, they'd have to swipe their ID to get out. Then, when Maki came back from the restroom, she'd begin a frantic search for her deck. Someone, the librarian or another student, would notice and ask what was wrong. Surely, the librarian would call campus security. Duel Monsters cards may be made of cardboard, but they're often more expensive and valuable than even jewelry."

"Yeah, I did call them. They must be taking a while to get here," the librarian stated.

"This means that the phone call will easily provide a record of the time the theft occurred," Ryan deduced. "And the school would easily be able to check the records of who came and went from the library. It's an easy way to narrow down the list of suspects. The police could easily handle it from there." Ryan raised his pointer finger at the roof. "So naturally, the one thing to do would be to wait until a crowd gathered. Then he could easily slip out with some of the other students. The records would be all messed up and there'd be no way of telling who was and wasn't here."

The students nodded in reluctant agreement. _'Of course, using a stolen ID would have been faster, but that isn't what happened.'_

"Wait," the librarian asked. "How could he be sure there'd be a crowd?"

Ryan smirked as if the answer was obvious. "People are nosy. Campus security would get here eventually, and a crowd would follow."

Ryan grinned. "Of course, he can't hold on to the deck, the police might get here and search the students. So obviously, the deck is still hidden somewhere in the library."

Maki smiled. "Really? It's still here?"

"I'm willing to stake my life on it." The boy smiled. "And to top it off, it probably isn't very far from this desk." Ryan paused a second. _'Good, nobody noticed the flaw in what I said. Not that it matters too much. Either way I'd still get what I need.' _Ryan laughed. "So all we have to do is search everywhere to find the deck. Anyone willing to help?"

"Sure, I guess."

"Why not?"

The students all happily agreed.

'_Okay, now this is going great.' _Ryan watched the students as they began searching around for the deck. They checked inside the desks, under bookshelves, and behind stacks of books."

Maki nearly tripped as she dashed off to find her cards."Aren't you going to look too?" Shizune asked.

"Nah, I'm lazy. How about you?" Ryan asked with a sly smile. He looked around at the searching students. "Shizu-" his friend vanished. "I hate when she does that."

"Anyone find it?"

"No not here."

"Keep looking."

They spread out and moved farther away from the desk. "I guess I will start looking," he said loudly. Ryan sighed as he moved to a far away shelf. He shuffled some books around. _'Boogiepop? It looks interesting. I should read it sometime.' _He counted off the seconds in his head. _'Time to kick things into action.' _He quickly returned to the table. He smiled at a boy with dark blue hair and silver eyes. "So, you're a really slow searcher."

"Hey, I'm trying my best," the boy protested. He looked like he was a bit younger than Ryan.

"Oh really? Then empty out your pocket." Ryan commanded.

"Hmmm, looks like I've been found out," the boy removed a black deck case from his pocket. "I thought I'd be able to hide it behind some books for now and go back later. When the search began, I got worried. So I decided to slip it in my pocket for now and hide it in the restroom in the middle of the search. Then I'd just come back for it later, after everyone left. So tell me, how'd you know it was me?"

"It was a gamble," Ryan explained. "I knew where the deck was, it had top be somewhere close by and the books on the shelf were messy enough. I hoped that when the search began, the thief would head straight toward it. You didn't want anyone else to find it. You seemed awfully fixated on that spot, but you never found the deck. I figured you were the thief and you still planned to steal it. I have to ask though, why'd you go through all this to steal a deck?"

The boy smiled. "I suppose I can tell you, after I give the deck back to Maki. Just one thing, don't tell her I stole it, 'kay. Just pretend I found it."

"And why would I do that?" Ryan asked.

"Because, if you don't then I won't tell you anything I know about the Octogram."

Ryan's eyes narrowed into a fierce glare. "Okay, fine, you win. But in exchange, tell me everything!"

"How 'bout no? The worst that happens for me in this situation is that I run from the police. You on the other hand, desperately want to know what I know. So, in the end, you stand to gain the most, and that means I have all the bargaining chips." The boy walked toward Maki. She searched frantically for her cards. A pile of books waited at her side. "Yo', Maki-chan, I found your deck."

"Oh my God, thank you so much Ethan," she cried as she threw her arms around the boy,

"I don't know what I'd do without them."

Ryan only growled as he watched this. _'That bastard. They're friends! Who would steal a friend's cards like that?'_

"Hey, Ryan," Ethan called out to the boy. "Meet me at Ashford Park in half an hour, we'll duel there!" He smiled as he turned to Maki. "Okay, let's get these books cleaned up."

"I'm out of here," Ryan sighed.

"Where are you going?" Shizune asked.

"Gah!" Ryan gasped as he fell over. "To the park. Ethan said he wants to duel me there in half an hour."

. . .

Ryan sighed as he sat on a wooden bench. Wild green grass grew everywhere. It was completely untamed, nobody bothered to take care of it. _'Something isn't right. That was all too easy. What am I missing?' _Ryan thought it over. He turned to the metal statue of Winged Kuriboh in the corner. "So, what a I missing?" He asked his reflection.

"Wow, you're talking to yourself?" A voice taunted from behind the statue. "I was starting to think you're smart but maybe you're just crazy."

"You're late, Ethan." Ryan rose to his feet and started shuffling his deck. "So, let me guess the conditions. I win, you talk, you win, then I leave you alone?"

Ethan smiled. "Poor Ryan, you don't seem to understand a very simple fact. You aren't dealing with a normal person here. This won't be an ordinary duel. When the duel is over, if you win, you get five questions. However, for each Spell you use, I take away one question. If you lose, however, then I'm taking your deck as my own then."

"Heh, good thing I won't lose." Ryan chuckled.

"I'm glad you're so confident. Let's begin."

**Ryan 4000 5 Questions**

**Ethan 4000**

"I'll go first," Ethan chuckled. He spread his six cards out in his hand and carefully selected one. "I'll set three cards face down and summon my Purring Dragon in attack mode." A cute black cat with dragon wings appeared on Ethan's head. (300/200) It purred peacefully as it curled into a ball for a nap. "Your turn, Ryan."

Ryan drew a sixth card and frowned. _'Another spell huh? Looks like I'm either going to give up my questions or be stuck with a bunch of dead weight in my hand.' _

"Here's a little something you might like to know. While my cat is on the field, I am not allowed to negate the activation of any spell cards. In exchange, you simply must activate a Spell Card each turn or else you take 1000 points of damage during your endphase."

"Looks like I'll need to get rid of your kitten." Ryan decided. "I summon the monster card, Child of the Blade, Mars!" (1100/1400) A blonde haired boy in a green tunic appeared on the field. "Now here's where things get interesting, I pick a face down spell or trap and I can do one of two things. I can either make it easy and guess if it's a spell or trap and then check. If I'm right, the card is destroyed and you take 500 damage. Or I can make things more challenging by going for bonus points. I can guess what kind of spell or trap it is. If I'm right, the card can't be activated in response, is destroyed, and you take 1000 points of damage. If I'm wrong, I take 1000 points of damage. The fun part, of course, comes from the fact that I can use this effect once per turn, so even if I'm wrong this turn, you better activate that card or I'll destroy it next turn."

"So I have a fifty-fifty chance of losing a card and taking 500 damage. Good thing that card has a weak attack or else I'd be in trouble." Ethan chuckled.

Ryan pointed at the middle card. "Normal Trap, Scrap Iron Scarecrow!"

"What?" Ethan gasped as his face down card revealed itself. Mars leaped forward and chopped the trap to bits. The infamous scarecrow turned to rust in the wind and blew away. Ethan's Life Points tumbled.

**Ethan: 3000**

"No way, how did you figure out what card I played."

"Sorry, Ethan, I'm not one to reveal my tactics to an opponent so easily." Ryan teased. "Anyway, I would love to attack but you would just use your Mirror Force on me. So instead, I'll play one card face down."

"How did you know I had a Mirror Force face down?" Ethan demanded.

"I end my turn," Ryan said casually. Ethan's cat flew forward and scratched away 1000 Life Points.

**Ryan 3000 5 Questions**

**Ethan 3000**

Ethan drew his next card. "Dammit, you're better than I thought. I normally protect my cat while watching my opponent try to ration his spells so that he won't run out. But it seems like you've got some sort of gift or figuring out my face downs." Ethan smiled. "I can't let you keep that card out too much longer, so I'll summon Ethereal Murder Blade." (1600/1400) "While he's on the field you take 300 damage each time you activate a spell."

"Sounds like you've got an interesting deck, Ethan. Damned if you do and damned if you don't," Ryan pointed an accusing finger at his opponent. "Don't think you're going to beat me with such simple tactics."

Ethereal Murder Blade simply grinned. It looked like a large suit of blue armor with two glowing pink and green blades in each hand. "Go, Ethereal Murder Blade, kill his monster."

Ethan's card charged forward and swiped at Mars. The young warrior raised a sword to retaliate, but his foe's blade cut through his own. Mars rolled through Murder Blade's legs in an effort to escape, but the larger monster brought his foot down on the young card's back. Ethereal Murder Blade laughed silently as he crushed his prey beneath his foot. He brought his sword down and plunged it through Mars' body.

**Ryan 2500 5 Questions **

"I'll switch my cat into defense mode."

Ryan drew his next card. "So, I have to get rid of two more of your cards before I can even consider attacking. Mirror Force and Magic Cylinder." Though his lips remained calm, Ryan's eyes smiled brightly. Ethan growled.

Ryan stared at his newest card. _'Giant Trunade. I could easily return all his cards to his hand and attack with my monster. But I want to keep those questions.' _He sighed. "I summon the monster card, Child of the Blade, Vincent," (1300/1500) His new monster had messy black hair and a red tunic. "Vincent's effect lets me guess the top card of your deck in a similar fashion to his friend. Of course, there are more options this time around. Easy mode tacks on monster, while hard mode gives me normal monster, effect monster, and ritual monster. Kind of a tough challenge that not even I'm that good at. However, that doesn't mean I'm ready to give up just yet. If I get easy mode right then you take 700 damage. If I get it wrong then you add that card to your hand." Ryan smirked. He considered his options. "I'm going for Hard Mode. I'm choosing, Normal Spell card."

Ethan picked up the top card of his deck and laughed. "Ha-ha, looks like you're not as good at guessing the top card of my deck as you are with my face downs. What happens now?" He revealed his effect monster.

"Since I got it wrong, I take 1000 damage. And since it's a monster, you Special Summon it to your side of the field while ignoring Summoning Conditions. If it had been a spell or trap and the timing was right, it would have activated without a cost. Otherwise it would go to your hand." He explained the possibilities. "That and I take 1000 damage."

**Ryan 1500 5 Questions**

Ethan sighed. "Do I have a choice, what if I don't want to Special Summon it?"

"Sorry, it goes to your field."

A large black golem appeared on Ethan's field. (3000/1000) _'Abyss Golem normally goes to my opponent's side of the field. His effect makes it so that if his controller doesn't activate a spell each turn, his opponent steals 1000 Life Points. That bastard planned this.'_

"I end my turn," Ryan stated.

The cat gleefully attacked him. Ethan drew and smiled.

**Ryan: 500 5 Questions**

Ethan looked over his hand. _'I should have the strength to end this now. If not, then at least I have a spell to activate at the end of the turn.' _He stared at the lone spell in his hand, Monster Reborn. _'I should save it for the end of the turn, just in case he wipes my cards out.' _"Go, Abyss Golem, attack Vincent."

Ryan smiled. "I activate the Trap Card, Blade Waltz. When a Child of the Blade is attacked, I can discard three cards of the same type to end your turn. So I ditch the three spells in my hand to end your turn."

A dark aura engulfed Ethan and flew toward Ryan. "Damn it, since I didn't activate a Spell, Abyss Golem gives you 1000 of my Life Points."

**Ryan 1500 5 Questions**

**Ethan 2000**

'_This guy is a genius.' _Thought Ethan.

'_Looks like I lucked out when he got that Golem.'_

Ryan drew his final card. A smile appeared on his face. "I summon Child of the Blade, Ven." (1400/1600) "Now I'll use Vincent's effect. I'm going to go for easy mode now. The top card of your deck, is," he waited a moment. "Spell Card!" It was purely a guess.

Ethan grunted as he revealed his Spell card. "Yeah, it's a ritual spell. So what, I discard it?" Ryan nodded. Ethan slid his card away.

**Ethan 1300**

"So now Ven's effect comes into play. I pick a card in your hand," Ryan pointed to the latest addition to Ethan's hand. "Spell Card!"

"So what happens now?" Ethan asked as he revealed his Monster Reborn.

"You discard it and take 600 damage."

**Ethan 700**

'_Poor fool,' _thought Ryan. _'He gave it away when he looked worried upon summoning aAbyss Golem. Free 3000 point beatstick? What's not to love? Obviously he didn't have any spells, so he freaked. But then he grinned when he drew his card.'_

"Now I'll end this." Ven burst into four rings that surrounded Vincent. "Metal sings a sorrowful melody. Resonating elegies as blades clash. Blood is drawn and soils the innocent Earth. A cold sting bites the soul. Synchro Shokan, Child of the Blade, Kirima!" (2200/1000) A brown haired warrior materialized in a burst of light. "Once per turn I choose a Child of the Blade in my grave and copy its effect. So I'm picking Mars." He pointed at the left most face down. "Normal Trap-Mirror Force."

Kirima slashed through the trap card and reduced Ethan's Life Points to 0.

"I win," Ryan said with a smile. "So, five questions, right."

"Sure, I'll answer five of your questions, if you can catch me first!" Ethan laughed as a white haired female raced her blood red D-Wheel onto the field. He quickly climbed on behind her. "So long, Ryan Akimoto! It was fun dueling with you. You're almost as good as your cousin, Yuu. He took the same challenge and obliterated me."

The D-Wheel sped away before Ryan could even take a step forward. "Wait a minute, how do you know Yuu?" He tried to chase after them, but he was far too slow.


	2. Heroes of Another Nature

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Power Rangers RPM or Spiral

Author's Notes: Did I give Ryan an extra card?

. . .

"How did that bastard know what my face down cards were?' Ethan wondered. "He knew each and every one. There's no way that's humanly possible. Our reports didn't say he was psychic or anything." The wind in his hair did nothing to cool his fiery mind. Ethan held tight to his accomplice as her D-Wheel sped down the road.

"You know, for someone so smart, you can be pretty dumb at times," she said.

"What do you mean by that, Emma?"

"You used three very popular and easily recognizable cards. You stood in front of a metallic surface, He saw their reflections. You do the math. Everything else was just sheer dumb luck."

"That asshole cheated?" Ethan gasped. "Turn around, I'm going to tell him the duel is void and I don't have to answer any of his stupid questions."

"Calm down, it's your own fault anyway. You added in your little house rule and he threw in his. Either way he's still an impressive duelist. Even his luck was amazing. He risked a lot on Vincent's effect and it paid off big time when you summoned Abyss Golem. The look on your face was priceless too."

Ethan sighed. "I want a rematch with him."

"Well too bad, you already had your chance. Someone else signed up for round two."

. . .

Maki sat in her living room playing an RPG on her DS. The microwave hummed in the background as it warmed water for her tea. Maki smiled as she selected her next attack. She drummed her fingers to the rhythm of the boss theme. "Oh Reiko, will you ever give up?"

A knock on the door caught her attention. "Coming!" She called out as she shut her DS. She stood up from the couch and walked over to the door. She opened it with a smile. "Ryan, what brings you here?"

"I was supposed to duel Ethan after school today, but he never showed," the boy lied. "You two seemed like friends so I was wondering if you knew his number. I wanted to call him to reschedule."

"Yeah, we're friends," Maki confirmed. "I have his number; let me get it for you." She reached into her pocket and grabbed her cell phone.

"So, are you two close?" Ryan inquired.

"Yeah. We've known each other since we were kids," Maki told him. "Why?"

"Because from what I gather, he was there in the library from before your deck got stolen. I just found it odd that you didn't ask him to watch your things before you went to the restroom."

"I just didn't realize he was there. Why does it matter?" Maki flipped her phone open and began searching for her friend's number.

"Because, he stole your deck and it's been bugging me."

"What do you men he stole my deck? Ethan's my friend; he'd never do that to me."

"I couldn't help but wonder, why there at the library. Surely there must have been a better opportunity. It couldn't possibly have been a spur of the moment thing. This isn't the sort of thing many people would do without planning. And I've met Ethan, he isn't the type to do things without thinking them through. Even if I consider the fact that he wanted to steal your deck and he just took the first opportunity to do so, we still have a problem. The plan was a little messed up from the start. There were easier ways to bypass the security system. A stolen ID for instance. You could even walk out the door after someone else opened it for you, and you'd never leave a record. Anyone else might have looked suspicious if they waited to sneak out with someone else. But, Ethan is your friend. He could have left with you and nobody would question it. Even if the police did get there, they wouldn't be likely to search your friend."

"Why are you telling me all this? Even if Ethan did do it, not that he did, then maybe it just meant he didn't plan things out well enough." Maki snapped her phone shut. "Maybe you should just leave."

"I'm telling you this because I want to get a confession out of you. It would save me the trouble of having to prove that you were in on the whole thing!" Ryan pointed an accusing finger at Maki.

"Now you're just being ridiculous. That has got to be the lamest, most absurd story I've ever heard." Maki sat down on her couch and crossed her legs. "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Okay, I guess I'll just have to go prove my story. I'm sure that the principal will be willing to help me out. After all, a theft on school grounds looks really bad and a prank sounds so much better." Ryan said with a smirk.

"What will the principal be able to do anyway? Frame us?"

"It's simple really. There are cameras installed in every restroom. I doubt you actually bothered to wash your hands. The footage from the cameras will show us that."

"N-there's no way they installed cameras in the bathrooms. That's an invasion of privacy," Maki protested.

"You seem awfully worried for someone who's supposedly innocent."

"Of course I'm worried; someone's getting to watch me pee."

Ryan chuckled. "Okay, maybe I am bluffing. Maybe I'm not. But if I'm telling the truth, the principal will find out that you needlessly caused a disturbance. You could be expelled."

Maki sighed as she reached for something behind her couch. "Dammit, you're smart." She pulled out her Duel Disk and strapped it onto her arm. "Perhaps even smart enough to figure out why we did it." She pulled out a card from her deck case and slipped it into the Field Spell Zone. "I activate the Field Spell, Broken Darkness!"

Darkness crept out of her Duel Disk and engulfed the room. "Hey, what are you doing?" Ryan demanded. He knew the answer. The darkness disappeared quickly, but it had given Maki enough time to escape.

. . .

"I didn't expect him to show up at my house," Maki said into her cell phone. "He's really good, Ethan. He knows that I was in on the whole thing." She leaned against a tree in the park. "What should I do?"

"You're a smart girl, you'll figure something out," Ethan teased.

"Well, I can't go back home until I sort this whole thing out. He'll just know to find me there. I bet he'll probably come check up on you next, so you might want to spend the night at Emma's. I'd come too, but I hate her cats. They drive my allergies insane."

"Well, either quit complaining and had on over or figure out something else to do. I suggest you just go back there and confront him."

"And tell him what? We were supposed to be secretive and challenge him on our terms. He unraveled our little trick and took advantage of the situation. He's better at this then we thought!" Maki sighed as she slumped over. "I wish we had our powers back, then we could just go to another world to hide until the time was right."

"Listen, just challenge him to a duel and tell him that you'll answer all his questions if he wins. Then beat him. And if he somehow manages to emerge victorious, run away again."

"Are you insane? I can't just go back there. What would I say? I ran away from my house, I can't just go back there to challenge him to a duel. That would look way too uncool!"

"Then how about challenging me right now?" Ryan suggested.

"Eeep! When did you get here?" Maki asked as she closed her cell phone. "How did you find me?"

"That's a simple one, Maki. I have a Special Duel Disk with a built in GPS locator. If I duel someone then I'll be able to track their location from that point forward. When you activated your Field Spell I knew you would try to run away, so I activated my Duel Disk as well. So, do you want to duel me or would you prefer to just give me the answers I want?"

"Sorry, Ryan, but it won't be that easy. If you can track our locations, you really should have tried to track down Ethan. I'm not nearly as kind as he is." Her Duel Disk quickly activated. "If you can bring me down to 0 Life Points I'll tell you whatever you want."

Ryan mimicked her actions and activated his own Duel Disk. "So, want to throw in any arbitrary challenges like your friend Ethan? I don't want my victory to be too easy."

"Shut up and get ready to pick the pieces of your shattered dream up off the ground. You're not winning this duel, Ryan. I summon Elemental Hero-Clayman in defense mode." (800/2000) The brown clay soldier stood in front of Maki like a bodyguard waiting for any attack. "Now I activate the Continuous Spell Card, El Draw!" Her eyes briefly shifted between two cards before she slapped one onto her Duel disk. "Every time I fusion summon a Hero Monster I get to draw 1 extra card. I set another card and end my turn."

"Wow, you actually do have an Elemental Hero deck. I just assumed you were eventually going to challenge me to a duel and give me time to prepare an anti- Hero deck before pulling a completely different deck out of your butt."

"Now why would I do that?" Maki teased.

"So I'd load my deck with tons of useless cards that would weigh me down," Ryan said as he drew. "I summon Child of the Blade, Mars, in defense mode." (1100/1400) _'If I use Easy Mode and she activates her card, then Mars' effect is negated. But I have no way of guaranteeing my safety with Hard Mode. Think, she runs an Elemental hero deck, what kind of support do they have? No, wait; it could easily be a splashable card like Mirror Force. She could even have set a card that she normally wouldn't have, just to mess with me. She is friends with Ethan and he knows my deck type. He could have told her.'_

"I activate Mars' effect. I can guess what kind of card your face down is, and if I'm right, you take damage," Ryan began.

"Save it, Ethan already told me about your deck and the whole stupid Easy and Hard Mode crap. So just tell me, are you going for Easy Mode. Or do you actually have the guts for Hard Mode?"

"Well, I had planned to go easy on you, but no holding back now. Time for Hard Mode." Ryan swung his arm out and watched Mars point his sword forward at the facedown. "Your card is," he thought it over. _'Counter Traps are rare, but they do exist. However, chances are it's something else. Ritual Spells rarely go face down, and I doubt she'd set one just to mess with me. She runs an Elemental Hero deck; with all those Fusions, she'd have enough of a hard time just trying to maintain hand advantage. So unless it was a low level Ritual Monster like Doriaido, I doubt she'd include it. Then again, Doriaido could help for some of the newer fusions. It could also be an Equip Spell, those are common. A normal spell is doable too.' _He made no progress in his head.

"Just give up now, you'll never get it," Maki taunted.

"Continuous Spell Card, El Draw!"

"What!? But how?" Maki watched her second El Draw shatter and vanish like fading particles of light. "There's no way you could have done it this time. I talked to Ethan before you showed up. He called me to whine about your little cheating trick with the reflection on the statue. There's no way for you to see my cards here. So how did you figure it out?"

**Maki: 3000**

"You gave yourself away. 'I activate the Continuous Spell Card, El Draw.' Your eyes shifted between two cards in your hand before you picked one. I easily figured out that you had two copies of the same card."

Maki smiled in surprise. "Wow, that's actually rather smart. No wonder _he _wanted to test you."

"Who wanted to test me?" Ryan questioned.

"Reduce my Life Points to 0 and I'll tell you," Maki chuckled. "And don't worry, I won't flee from you like my friend did."

Ryan placed two cards face down. "I end my turn."

Maki drew her next card. "I activate the Spell Card Polymerization! By fusing Elemental Hero-Flash and Elemental Hero-Sparkman, I can bring out Elemental Hero- Thundaga!" Lightning struck the Earth and took the form of a Sentai Soldier dressed in yellow. Blue lightning bolts decorated his outfit. (2600/2100)

"Don't tell me you plan to summon the entire spandex brigade," teased Ryan.

"To quote Dr. K, THAT IS _**NOT**_ SPANDEX!" Maki shouted jokingly." Anyway, his effect is what makes him so useful. But first of all, El Draw gives me a new card." Maki's Duel Disk spat out an extra card for her. "I'll use Thundaga's effect, I discard a card from my hand," she slipped her new card away," and you can't activate face down card's this turn." Electricity cackled as it jumped from one of Ryan's cards to the next. "I know it may not seem very deadly, or even electric themed, but trust me, there's more to it. I just need to destroy one of your monsters this turn, and I can destroy both of your facedown cards. So, Thundaga, Bolt Judgment!'

The Elemental Hero summoned a rod to his hand. A green orb rested on the tip for mere moments before lighting up. It spat waves of lightning at the surrounding area, carelessly tearing through the ground before zapping all three of Ryan's cards and sending them to the grave."

'_Shoot, Mind Haxorz and Ominous Fotrunetelling. I was going to see every card in her hand then deal her damage with Fortunetelling. I could have comboed it with Ven for further damage.' _

Ryan sighed. "So, anything else?"

"Yes, since my Thundaga destroyed a monster, I can remove from play three Elemental Heroes in my grave to add a Spell from my grave to my hand."

'_Sparkman, Flash, and one from Thundaga's cost,' _Ryan figured.

"So I'm adding Polymerization back where it belongs." Maki explained. "Your move, Ryan."

He drew a card. "Once this duel is over, you better tell me everything you know about the Octogram, about Yuu, and about the person who wanted to test me." Ryan sighed. _'Now I know how Ayumu felt in Spiral, trying so hard to deal with the Blade Children so he could find his missing brother.'_

"My turn!" Ryan searched his hand for something he could use. "I summon Child of the Blade, Venus!" A beautiful blonde haired girl in an ancient Grecian robe appeared before Ryan. (1400/1000) "She's got a special effect. Once per turn, I can randomly select one card in my own hand and guess what kind of card it is. If I'm right, she gains 600 attack points until the end of the turn. Or I can go for Hard Mode. If I'm right with hard mode then she gains 1000 attack and a piercing effect until the end of the turn."

Ryan shuffled his cards around and revealed one to Maki. "It's an Equip Spell, isn't it?"

Maki nodded. "I bet it wasn't too hard for you to figure that one out since the options aren't that numerous. Considering she's in need of no sacrifices and can easily reach 2400 attack points, I'm going to have to say she's a little broken."

"You're right about the lack of choices, I only have Equip Spells in my hand." Ryan explained. He listened to Venus' raising attack. (2400/1000) "As for broken, I'm just going to say she has a few drawbacks to even her out. Like, during your turn you can use the same effect to lower her attack. Anyway, I'll equip her with Blade of the Rising Sun and Blade of the Falling Star!" Venus sheathed her sword only to grab two new ones from the air. One had a beautiful silver handle decorated with a golden sun, while the other had a jet-black blade decorated with a silver star. "Now these cards can only be equipped to Children of the Blade," Ryan explained. "My Rising Sun lets a monster attack again if it destroys a defense position monster. In addition, it gains attack equal to the destroyed monster's defense until the turn ends. Falling Star allows me to recover Life Points equal to one half the damage my monster inflicts." Ryan pointed forward. "Go and attack Clayman."

"Sorry, but I activate the effect of my removed from play Elemental Hero, Illusion Wind!" (0/0) Maki exclaimed. Venus leapt forward, winging both her blades at Clayman. The Elemental Hero raised his hands to catch the blade, but he couldn't push the swordswoman back. With a second wing of Falling Star, Venus managed to send Clayman tumbling backwards. He fell to the ground with a loud thud and sent dirt flying through the air, creating a smokescreen of cover. Venus jumped up and blindly plunged her blade toward the ground, hoping to impale Clayman and finish him off. She felt her sword sink deep into something and waited for the smoke to clear. A breeze blew the cloud of dust away, revealing a second Venus. Cracks split down her forehead as she slowly fell apart like a bunch of meaningless pixels. The real Venus stumbled backwards.

**Maki: 2000**

"While my Elemental Hero Illusion Wind is removed from play, I can protect my Heroes from attacks at the cost of 1000 Life Points," Maki told her opponent.

Ryan smiled. "Sounds like a costly way to protect yourself." Ryan smiled. "Well, I equip my final card to her, Shiningsoul Überblade. I can release a monster equipped with this card and two other equips to Special Summon a monster from my hand or deck with up to twice the equipped monsters original attack. So come on out, Iris Dragon!" (2800/2000) "Normally the equipped cards would transfer over, but they won't work on Iris Dragon." Ryan watched his dragon fly through the air. It had black scales and a main of purple petals.

"My move?" Maki drew a card. "I fuse the two Elemental Heroes on my field to form, Elemental Hero Gaia!" (2200/2600) "He steals half your monster's attack and I get to draw a card."

**Iris Dragon 1400**

**Gaia 3600**

"Attack!"

Iris Dragon fired a stream of Iris Petals at Gaia, but the giant Elemental hero brushed them off. He moves forward without bothering to dodge. The petals bounced off him harmlessly. Realizing there was nothing left to do, Iris Dragon tried to fly off, but Gaia caught her by the tail and slammed her to the ground. He began pounding away on the helpless dragon.

**Ryan 1800**

Ryan grunted as his Life Points dropped. "Just as planned," he joked. "When my Iris Dragon is destroyed I call out a card type and draw a card. If I draw a card of the type I called out, I can draw again. If it's still the same type, I can keep drawing." Ryan thought it over for a mere second. "Monster Card!" He picked up the top card of his deck. It was a Spell.

"I set a card and end my turn."

Ryan drew a card, fearing it would be his last." Alright, here we go, just what I needed! I activate the Spell Card Pot of Greed. This lets me draw two more cards." Ryan watched his available choices triple. "Now to end this right now. I activate the Spell Card Trap Booster! By discarding a card from my hand, I can activate a trap from my hand, so I'm using Call of the Haunted to bring back the monster I just discarded. Come on out, Child of the Blade- Raz!" (2600/2800) "Once per turn I can select one card in your hand and you reveal it to me. If it's a monster, you have to Special Summon it. If it's a Spell or Trap, then it goes face down on the field. Now, here's the part I like. Whatever kind of card I pick, you'll be weakened in some way."

"Weakened how?" Maki asked.

"It depends. What kind of card do you have?" He looked at the last card in the girl's hand.

"I special summon Elemental Hero-Bladedge!" (2600/1800) The golden warrior leapt into the scene and stood in front of Maki, waiting for the chance to strike.

"So looks like I get an offensive advantage in this case. Had it been a spell or trap, you wouldn't be able to activate face down spells or traps until the end of the turn. But since it's a monster, Bladedge weakens all your other monsters by his own attack.

Maki watched Gaia's attack points vanish. _'Crap, my face down card won't do a thing. It's Doriado's Blessing. I only played it to scare him out of attacking or to bait him with his effect . I can't bluff my way out of this. Well, it's a good thing I have Illusion Wind!'_

"Go, Raz, slay her Gaia!" The sword master dashed forward. His black hair remained nearly perfect as he blurred away from everyone's vision. He thrust his blade into Gaia's back, but the Elemental Hero melted away like a mud statue.

**Maki: 1000**

"That would be my Illusion Wind at work again." Gaia reappeared on her side of the field. "My move?" She drew a card. "You know, with zero cards left in your hand, it'll take a lot of luck to keep surviving, maybe you should just give up now?"

"Oh really? I'd say we're about even at the moment," Ryan surmised. "I can easily take you out if you make the wrong moves, and I'm confident that I'll be able to hold my own against you. So maybe you should give up. I just need to draw one good card to win."

"Same here," Maki said.

"Except you've already drawn your card for the turn, and you're still stalling for time. You can't figure out what to do with it. I doubt it's a monster. Otherwise you would have summoned it and did a suicide attack with Bladedge and attacked directly. Either that or it's a monster that needs two sacrifices but doesn't have the strength it needs to hold its own against Raz. Of course, the third possibility is that it is a monster, but it's too weak to do much good and would only be a liability on my next turn, but you probably would have at least set it by now. If it were trap, it would probably be face down by now. Overall, I'm guessing it's a spell card that you can activate, but don't know what to do with. Maybe it's a Reinforcement of the Army and you have no clue what monster to grab with it."

'_Dammit, he's right. The Warrior Returning Alive can let me grab a warrior from my grave and add it to my hand, but my only choices at the moment are Clayman. But what if I need it later?' _Maki sighed. "I end my turn, oh crap," she stared in horror at her attack mode Gaia. He had no attack points, one good attack would be enough.

'_There's no way she'd make such an amateurish mistake,' _Ryan thought to himself as he drew a card. _'She must be trying to lure me into an attack so she can use her trap. But, why didn't she use it last turn?' _Ryan tried to figure it out.

Maki did her best to hide her smile. _'That's right, I know you don't actually believe I messed up on purpose, Ryan. You probably think I'm trying to lure you into attacking so I can activate a trap card.'_

'_I get it; she must have needed something she could discard for a cost. I wonder then, what could that card in her hand be? Necroid Shaman? No, it doesn't necessarily have to be something like that. Any card will do. But then, what could her face down be. Raigeki Break? No, she could activate that at any time. Think, Ryan, think!' _He set his newest card face down. "I end my turn."

Maki drew. _'He seemed way too worried about my face down card. If his face down was anything to gear, he would have set it and ended his turn right away. That means I can safely say that it's safe to attack.'_

Maki grinned. "I activate the Warrior Returning Alive to return Clayman to my hand. Next I use the Spell Card Fusion Burst. This card lets me add a Polymerization from my grave to my hand by returning a Fusion monster to my extra deck. So I remove Gaia from the field and activate Polymerization to fuse my Clayman with Bladedge to resummon Gaia!"

In a series of needlessly flashy lights, Gaia vanished only to reappear when Bladedge vanished into a mystical swirling vortex. (2200/2600) "He steals half your monsters attack points and I get to draw a card."

**Gaia 3500**

**Raz 1300**

Maki quickly activated her next card. "Monster Reborn, bring back Elemental Hero Bladedge!" (2600/1800)

'_Gaia must be one of those E Hero fusions that just need a Hero and a monster of the right element. In this case, an Elemental Hero and an Earth monster. I better be careful before she pulls something else out."_

"Gaia, crush his Child of the Blade."

"Sorry, I'm using Negate Attack," Ryan watched Gaia's fist collide with a wall of air. "So I assume this means it's my move?" Ryan watched the monster's attacks revert to normal. _'Okay I can at least slay Gaia. Though now I'm really curious to find out what that face down card is.' _He reached for his next card.

'_At this moment there are approximately 28 cards in my deck and I have about 7 cards that can stop me from getting killed. Do the math in my head and that's a one-in-four chance of getting what I need._ _I like those odds.'_

Ryan drew. "I activate the Spell Card Monster Reborn. Come back to me, Iris Dragon!" Golden sparks marked the return of his previously deceased monster. (2800/2600) "Now I have enough attack points to wipe out your last two monsters and take away over half your Life Point!"

"If you're brave enough to attack." Maki pointed to her face down. _'Now he'll try to figure out if it's a bluff or if I want him to attack.'_

"Sorry, your bluff isn't going to work. You had too many chances to use it, but you didn't. Besides, why try to lure me into an attack when I'm already going to attack? I'm going to follow through. Go, Iris Dragon, attack Bladedge." Iris Dragon fired a stream of petals, but Maki's monsters vanished from sight.

'_What's going on?' _Ryan wondered. The sound of trickling Life Points alarmed him. He quickly checked his own Life Points. They remained at 1800. _'What?' _On a hunch he examined Maki's Life Points. _'No! Crap!'_

**Maki: 0**

'_She used Illusion!' _Ryan turned to his opponent. "You aren't getting out of this on a technicality, Maki!" he growled. Her words rang in his ears. _'If __**you**__ can bring me down to 0 Life Points I'll tell you whatever you want.'_

"Sorry, Ryan, but the deal was that I'd tell you everything if you could bring my Life Points to 0. I gave them up all on my own. So you fail the challenge."

"That's stupid! I still beat you!"

"Too bad I never said you just had to beat me," Maki teased. She calmly walked away. "Go ahead and get us expelled if you want. You'd just lose your nest chance of every finding Ethan or me for a rematch."

Ryan suppressed a growl of frustration.


	3. Kiara Accelerates

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Soul Eater or Naruto  
**

* * *

Ryan fell to his knees as Maki's challenge repeated in his memory. _'If __**you**__ can bring me down to 0 Life Points I'll tell you whatever you want.' _If the prize hadn't been so important, he would have laughed at Maki's logic. She twisted the meaning of a sentence to get her way. It was the same logic children often used to counter adults. The _truth _of the situation just made it worse. Her interpretation was correct. She had lost the duel, but she had beaten him completely. _"_You win this time, Maki_," _Ryan said sternly. "But trust me, you and your friends will not be able to run forever. I can already track you and Ethan with my GPS Duel Disk."

"So what, we'll just get new Duel Disks and you won't be able to find us any more. we can transfer to a new school and send new agents in to monitor you." Maki laughed. "We'll have the upper hand on you, and you'll never know for sure who to trust from this day forward. You don't even know what our goals are. Are we talking conspiracies or crimes here? Your paranoia will consume you until you can't function without breaking down."

_'Crap, she's right,' _Ryan realized. _'I have zero clue what their plans are. I'll try to figure it out and go crazy from the endless possibilities. Dammit, what do I do?'_

"You're panicking right now, aren't you? You know we know about the Octogram and about Yuu, but you don't know what our relation to them is. And now your head hurts trying to sort out through the possibilities. You don't even know what our plans are, how long we've been going at this, or how big our operation is. Do we have teachers on our side? the principal? Perhaps even your best friend, Shizune, is working for us." Maki teased.

Ryan growled. "Don't you dare tarnish her name."

Maki wanted to laugh at Ryan's reaction.

"I'll tell you what_," _Maki raised a card to the sky._ "_Ethan and I are sadists and we enjoy watching you squirm. So we'll give you a chance to earn a duel with our leader. If you earn the right to face him, and you win, then we shall answer your questions. We swear on this card." She lowered the Duel Monsters card and threw it to Ryan. "You can use it for now, but when you duel our leader we expect you to return it to us."

Ryan stared at the cardboard back for a few seconds, wondering if he should turn it over or not. He feared that the card would be more of a head ache than it would be worth.

"You know that guy Trace at school?" Maki asked. "He's a legendary duelist among students. Every month he has a tournament. People pay to enter it, then they go through several challenged dueling his friends and each other. when it's over the winner can challenge him. If they beat him, they get a prize." Maki was sure that Ryan understood where she was going with this. "If you can win the tournament and beat Trance, you'll get to face our leader and lose."

Ryan groaned. Trance's tournaments were legendarily difficult. Half the time there wasn't even a winner and whenever there was, nobody had ever beaten Trance and won the prize. He and his friends were making an average of $300.00 - $500.00 a month, not bad for high schoolers with no real jobs. He gulped and flipped it over. Staring back at him was the legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon. "Wait, how did you get this?" he called out to Maki. somehow, in that time, she had managed to vanish.

* * *

Ethan sighed. "Maki knows our powers are weak. After Ender kicked our leader's ass he sealed most of our magic. She knows we shouldn't be expending too much of our energy to create cards that we aren't actually going to use. And a card like Blue Eyes White Dragon must have taken a lot of power to make." He sank into a comfy red sofa and glanced over at Emma. She smiled at him and took a sip of her cranberry juice. She was wearing a long sleeve blue T-shirt and black cotton shorts. A white Bobtail cat and a pointed Persian mewed happily as they jumped onto her lap. She began petting them behind the ears.

"Hello, Emma, you going to say anything?"

"No, not until you stop whining," Emma said. Her short black hair framed her head in a way that gave her deep blue eyes a menacing look. "Look, Maki dueled constantly for a full week to gather enough energy to make her Blue Eyes. If she wants to make a Blue eyes to screw with Ryan's head, she has every right to do so."

"I don't see how giving him a super-powerful legendary card is going to help us at all." Ethan pouted.

"You are an idiot aren't you? There's no way he could ever use that card without attracting unwanted attention. We haven't given him anything at all." Emma explained. "And it implies that,"

Ethan interrupted. "I understand that it implies Kaiba is on our side. It will worry Ryan to no end. It implies that we have great power and grand resources on our side. With someone like Kaiba helping us, we could have nearly any card in the world at our disposal. Not to mention the manpower we'd have on our side. That single card will be an endless source of paranoia fuel.

"But, you're forgetting that Ryan doesn't scare easily. He's faced our rivals and laughed in their faces. He's encountered the supernatural and taken it all in stride! He's very open minded about multiple possibilities of life. if anyone can figure out we have supernatural abilities on our side it's him. And the super natural doesn't freak him out at all." Ethan waited for Emma's response.

"While you have a point, only time will tell. Besides, the risks are nearly non-existent. Even if Ryan figures out we're supernatural and the paranoia fuel fades, we still have other ways to make him squirm. After all, he doesn't know what our morals all. He has no clue if we're dangerous or not. But he does know that we have info on his precious cousin."

* * *

Maki leaned against a wall in the manga section of her favorite bookstore. "You okay?" A passing stranger asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied. In truth, using her teleportation powers had taken a lot out of her. _'This kind of stuff used to be so easy for us, but now it's like running a marathon. I'm lucky I could manage to keep my energy up long enough to fine tune my landing and not materialize in front of an audience, or worse, inside a wall. Dammit, I'm glad Haley managed to protect himself. I wonder how he's doing? he's supposed to join Duel Academia right?' _She slumped over. _'Haley is supposed to watch over Naota, Hikaru, and Ryou while we look after Ryan.'  
_

She laughed, not because anything was funny but because her mind was over stressed. "God this sucks," she told herself. She slumped to the ground and let out an exhausted moan.

"Indeed it does, Maki," said a voice.

She looked up and gulped. "Shit, what are you doing here, Star?"

A young man stood above her. He looked eighteen at most. He had shaggy blonde hair and wore a black suit and red tie. "I had a feeling you'd be here and I thought I'd stop by to say hi."

* * *

Ryan slumped back into his bed at home. "Dammit, Yuu, where are you?" He slipped underneath his blue satin sheets and grabbed his pillow and screamed into it. "Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit." He couldn't wrap his head around everything that was happening. Who was in on the whole ordeal? What were they planning? What were their plans for him? _'They mentioned the Octogram and Yuu, so they must want me to go after them. I'm playing into their hands. Dammit, I thought I had the upper hand. I should have realized something was up when Maki gave in too easily. She could have kept denying my accusations but she didn't. No, she knew she was going to break eventually, that's why she ran. She had to escape. She wasn't expecting me to catch her.'_

"Something wrong, Rai-kun?" A sweet voice asked. The door creaked open as a young woman stepped into the room.

"Nothing, mom," he said with a pained expression.

"Don't tell me that, look, I know something's the matter." She told him. She walked to the side of his bed. "And if I have to pry into your life to figure it out then so be it. I, the great detective Kiara Akimoto will not allow any stone to go unturned!" She spoke in an over the top dramatic voice she hoped would get a chuckle out of her son. It didn't. She sighed and her long black hair moved over her white detective's uniform, lightly brushing over Ryan's skin as she moved in to give her son s hug.

Ryan tried not to cry. "I-Mom, do you think I'll ever be," he froze, unsure of what to say.

"Ever be what?" His mother asked.

"Ever be able to see Yuu again?" He asked.

"Ryan," she pulled her son in tight. "Don't worry about it, Yuu will be alright."

"I just- I don't get why he vanished. He left a note behind saying he was going to search for something called the Octogram. He told me about those once. They're just some cards. Yuu has access to nearly any card he wants and it never seemed to be a big deal to him. Why would he want something so badly he'd run away to find it. He could have hired someone else to do it. You know his parents would have let him."

"I don't know, Ryan, I don't know."

Ryan shook his head. "I, can we talk about something else?"

"Sure thing, wanna go for some ice cream?" Kiara asked, knowing her son would smile.

* * *

Maki sighed as she slumped to the ground in defeat.

**Maki: 0**

**Star: 8000**

Star loomed over her like a warrior preparing to deliver the killing blow. "Tell your leader not to bother. I am undefeatable. Not even the great Yugi Muto could win a duel against me."

"Undefeeatable?" Maki laughed. "I don't even think that's in any dictionary I've ever read. Unless we're talking about some crappy old movie then I think you mean unbeatable." Maki chuckled.

"Poor Maki, so thoroughly devastated by her overwhelming loss that she's making stupid jokes." Star began walking away. "You and your friends should give up now. You can't win. We'll destroy you all." He bent over to look at a manga. "Oh the new Soul Eater's out," he picked up the new tankoban and proceeded to the cash register, leaving Maki behind.

"Shit," she cursed.

* * *

Ryan and his mother sat outside of a fast food restaurant, tossing pieces of french fries to the local birds. They chirped in thanks and began nibbling at the offerings. They had ridden here on Kiara's D-Wheel and were now enjoying a nice lunch.

Ryan munched on his cheeseburger while one hand rested on his strawberry milkshake, ready to bring it to his mouth once the burger was downed.

"So, any new cases?" Ryan asked his mother after swallowing the food in his mouth. He took a sip of his shake.

Kiara dipped her fries in a mixture of ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. "We're still trying to solve the Burton murders. Michael Burton and his wife Fiona Burton were found brutally murdered in their apartment. It's a typical locked room mystery you'd find in any detective manga, but we can't seem to solve it."

"So, the locked room in this case," Ryan leaned forward, "a literal locked room or something else?"

Locked room mysteries were a common sub-genre of detective fiction. A crime was committed under an impossible circumstance and someone had to solve it. The most basic example available? A murder in a room locked from the inside. How could the killer possibly escape?

Kiara nodded. "Someone slashed open his throat and strangled her to death. They were found in the bathroom, which was locked from the inside. There were no windows and no other means of escape."

Ryan pondered things over for a moment. "Sounds like a toughy, who knows how it could have been committed. There are no natural means which could explain those circumstances, are there? Unless the room was locked from the outside. The killer could have used thread once he got out of the bathroom."

"True, we considered that, but here's where it gets weirder. A group of neighbors were playing cards together when they head the Burtons screaming. They ran over immediately and broke down the front door. They all looked around and found the bathroom locked, with blood pouring out beneath the door. They claim that they didn't see anyone leaving the area. Another neighbor can vouch that they didn't break in until after the Burton's screamed for help. They called the police immediately."

"Perhaps all the neighbors were in on it, including the one who verified the first group's story?" Ryan suggested.

Kiara sighed. "They all submitted to polygraphs, and they all passed. I doubt an entire group of neighbors would be able to beat a polygraph. One or two maybe, but it seems unlikely that they'd all be in on it."

"So, perhaps only one of them committed the crime and tricked the others into helping with his alibi." He paused for a moment. "Possibility one. He could have killed the couple, recorded their pleas for help, and used that recording to screw with the time of death."

"Don't be ridiculous Ryan, the entire group was together for hours. Nobody had the chance to slip away and kill the Burtons. Besides, how would they manage to hide the screams the first time through?"

"Loud music? No, that probably would have been picked up on the recording as well. Unless they were using advanced technology." Ryan mentally scolded himself for not keeping up with current levels of technology. Ryan shook his head. "Heheheh, this is never going to go anywhere. I can't figure it out just from a little bit of info."

"You're a kid, I'm not expecting you to figure it out," Kiara stated.

"I could." Ryan said gloomily. He put his head down as he thought it over. "Okay here it goes," he began. "There are a minimum of two culprits in this scenario. One of them was with the group of friends playing cards, the other remained separate from them. We shall call them killer A killer b." He chuckled at his Naruto reference. "Killer b committed the actual murder, he went into the Burtons' apartment and killed them. Seeing as there were no signs of forced entry he must have been a friend or family member. The card players play loud music so they can't hear the Burtons screaming for help. Killer b records the screams of his helpless victims and then locks the bathroom door from the outside. He can't look suspicious when leaving the house, so he leaves the door unlocked. Later, he plays the screams loudly enough for people to hear. The card players run to the Burtons, and killer a pretends the door is locked, so he breaks it down. Voila, perfect alibi for everyone."

"Your theory is nice but it doesn't mean you're right. It's like a lateral thinking puzzle. You can come up with an answer that fits perfectly but that doesn't mean it's correct. Besides, your theory is needlessly based on assumptions you're forced to make based on the low levels of information at hand." Kiara explained. Her son nodded in half-agreement.

"Any clue what the murder weapon was? For Michael at least. Could they medical examiner identify what kind of blade was used to slit his throat?"

"The murder weapon was likely the victim's own razor. It was left behind at the scene of the crime, covered in the victim's blood. The weapon was examined for fingerprints, but only the victim's were ever found. We also examined Fiona's body for fingerprints, but couldn't find any."

"Well, it looks like we've got a dilemma. We lack enough evidence to solve this crime," he said before sipping his milkshake.

"Haven't I been saying that? And what do you mean we? I'm the detective here." Kiara bit into her own cheeseburger, trying not to make a face as she chewed the low quality lettuce. It wasn't fresh or crispy at all.

"Sorry mom, just trying to be useful," he admitted sadly.

"Ryan," she offered a look of sympathy. Ryan simply turned away. His focus fell on a beautiful lady walking his way. She had long brown hair, wore a white jacket over her shirt, and wore long black sweat pants. She carried a pink purse on her shoulder.

The sound of an approaching D-Wheel filled the air. Ryan and Kiara fell silent, neither wanted to compete with the loudness of the engine. The woman's gaze turned behind her, she eyed the driver carefully. She sent a text message on her cellphone. Ryan wasn't sure, but he got the feeling something was going on. Ever since the incident with Ethan and Maki, he had been on his guard. The woman adjusted her purse strap carefully.

_'This place isn't that popular, and few people ever seem to come here,' _Ryan noted.

Suddenly, two things happened. The driver snatched the woman's purse off her shoulder and her scream cut through the noise. "He stole my purse!" she pointed at the speeding motorcycle.

"Stay here," Kiara told her son. She hopped onto her own D-Wheel and turned the key. It excitedly roared to life as she hit the gas pedal. She hit a button and the siren on her D-wheel screeched loudly, proudly claiming authority over the streets. Her bike's excellent speed allowed her to quickly pull up to the man's side. "Pull over," she roared over the two engines.

* * *

Ryan smiled as he turned to the victim. "Wow, a purse snatch. I've heard of those but I've never seen one before. You're kind of lucky my mom's a cop, well, a detective to be more accurate. Or perhaps this is more than just luck."

"What do you mean?" The woman asked cautiously.

"Sorry, I just find it odd, that's all. Not many people ever come through here, it seems like a weird place to snatch a woman's purse. Unless he was following you specifically. I wonder. Was this a random crime of oppurtunity or do you have something he could want?"

"Nothing I can think of." She admitted.

"I notice you have a deck of cards at your waist, so this guy isn't just some duelist looking for new cards," Ryan surmised. "You don't have any jewelry, you don't stand out as a particularly rich individual. Perhaps he only chose you because he thought there wouldn't be many witnesses."

"Who are you anyway?" the woman asked.

"Sorry, I'm just the son of a detective. I get curious. But I never really have any clue what's going on. I think laterally and make up a bunch of crap until I stumble across an answer." Ryan smiled. "And I intend to find an answer."

* * *

"So nice to see you, Kiara," said the motorcyclist. he turned to her and laughed as he pushed a button.

Kiara was surprised to hear the thief calling her name. "Who are you?' She demanded. She examined the thief closely, trying to see if she could recognize him at all. He wore a red jacket and tight leather pants. He looked like a teenager, but she couldn't tell too well because of his red helmet blocked most of his facial features.

"Duel Mode! Auto Pilot! Standby!" The D-Wheels spoke as they entered the Riding Duel. Kiara sighed as she felt the wind running through her hair. She didn't have the time to put on her helmet, so she was a little worried she would get hurt.

"My name is James," said the other duelist. He drew five cards. "Catch!" he tossed the purse to the detective, who leaned over to catch it. Her bike nearly tipped over, but she kept her balance. Kiara grumbled under her breath, but James smiled under his helmet. "I'll go first," he said as he drew a sixth card. "I'll set three cards face down and end my turn."

* * *

Ryan smiled at the woman standing before him. "You seemed to be aware of this man's existence. You glanced at him. "

"His D-Wheel was noisy, it bugged me." She explained.

"True, but I can't help but notice the way you adjusted your purse, it was as if you were getting it ready for him to steal."

"You're a little cuckoo, you know that?"

"Sorry, I've just had a chaotic day today. Nothing has been as it seemed and people have been showing me that I shouldn't trust them nearly as much as I wish I could. That and you didn't call the police even when you had your purse stolen."

"I was in shock," she justified. "I wasn't thinking straight. Then, you mentioned your mom was a detective so I figured I didn't have to."

Ryan rubbed his head. "Right, sorry, my bad, Ms.?" he inquired.

"My name is Kimberly," she told him.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Kimberly." Ryan said with a smile. _'It could all be q coincidence, but.'_

* * *

"I sure am glad I managed to get you to follow me," James told Kiara. "Your son's deck would obliterate most people in a Riding Duel. With less Spells and More Traps, the effects of his Children will be much easier to use. He'll constantly deal massive levels of damage each turn, before anyone can stop him. Your deck, on the other hand, isn't too bad."

"Oh really?" Kiara drew her sixth card. A mechanical beep signified that each duelist had gained a speed counter, bringing both their totals up to 1. Kiara smiled at her draw. "I activate Speed Spell Overboost, bringing my Speed Counters up to 5 until the end of the turn!" Her D-Wheel sped up for a few moments. "Next I activate Speed Spell-Zero Abyss. By removing from play five Speed Counters I can Ritual Summon a Level 5 Dark Monster from my hand!" She selected a card and tossed it down onto the field. "Come on out, D-Mistress Lilith!" (1700/300) A young woman materialized on the roadway, flying on leathery black wings. She had pale skin and long black hair. She wore a black bikini covered with bits of metal that looked like inefficient armor. "I equip her with Speed Spell-Roller Blades!" Lilith let her wings rest as she landed on the street. In a flash of light, roller blades covered her feet and she was able to keep pace with the D-Wheels. "She gains 300 attack now, plus, whenever she declares an attack she gains 500 attack during damage calculation. So go, Lilith, direct attack!" Lilith's attack zoomed up to 2500 as she skated toward James.

"Wow, that's enough to take out over half my Life Points. Sorry, no can do, I activate Binds of Deathiny!" He smiled as black chains shot up from the ground and tied up Lilith.

"Well, looks like you won't be getting the Speed Counter Rollerblades would normally give my opponent." Kiara sighed as she watched electricity shoot up the chains and zap Lilith. (1500/1300)

**Kiara: 3500**

"Your monster loses 100 attack times its level and you take 100 damage times its level. In addition, during each of your standby phases, the process repeats." James explained with a smile.

"I release Lilith to normal summon Harakiri Shojo in defense mode." (1200/1400) Kiara watched Lilith vanish in a portal of light as a girl with pale white skin appeared. Her long black hair was tied up in a cute ponytail. She wore a gray sailor fuku and carried a silver dagger on her waist. "Go ahead and attack her, wanna see why a monster that requires a sacrifice has such abysmal stats?"

"Hmm, I can't tell if you're bluffing or trying to encourage me to attack." James drew a card and laughed as both players gain a Speed Counter. He had two while she had one. "I summon Rude Ninja in attack mode." (1500/100) "When the only monsters you control are in defense mode, she can attack directly." The card in question materialized directly behind Kiara. She wore a tight black uniform that only showed her long purple hair and her deep blue eyes. She plunged a dagger into Kiara's side.

**Kiara: 2000**

She grunted in pain as the solid vision stung her side. Her only Speed Counter vanished as her Life Points trickled down to the half way mark.** "**Hahaha," James laughed. "You're nowhere nearly as talented as your son is," he teased. "I end my turn."

**

* * *

**Ryan smiled. "So**, **Kimberly, who were you texting before you were robbed?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Nobody, just a friend." She answered. "Why?"

"Because, I can't leave until my mom comes back and I'm bored. I figure we might as well make small talk, unless you want to play 20 Questions or something."

"Not really. look, could you just stop bugging me?" Kimberly snapped.

"Fine," Ryan said with a sigh. He grinned though.

"What's with that smirk?" Kimberly demanded.

"Nothing," Ryan told her. "I just can't shake the funny feeling you let that guy steal your purse for some reason. I know it's ludicrous but I can't get over the idea. In fact, I have a theory that might prove it. It's a bit of a gamble though, so there's no sense in testing this theory out."

"Oh, and what theory would that be?" Kimberly demanded.

"That the last person you texted would be none other than the thief himself. of course, there's still a chance I would be wrong. So perhaps a better test would be to have you call a certain someone and see how he responds."

"And that someone would be?" Kimberly asked.

"My dear friend Ethan. He and his friend Maki seem to be focused on making my life miserable lately. So it would only make sense that he's involved with this. So, put your phone on speakerphone and call him. I have his number with me right now." He reached into his pocket and retrieved a slip of paper. He handed it over. "If he seems to know you, then I'll be sure you're in on everything, no matter what you say."

Kimberly laughed and smiled. "Well, looks like I can't deny it any longer. Still, what made you so sure? How did you know this wasn't all some coincidence?"

Ryan smiled. "When I was at Maki's house I did some snooping around her place. I found a list of contacts. I wrote down Ethan's number just in case, and I ended up taking a picture of the rest of the contacts. The name Kimberly was listed as well, so I just took a gamble and guessed it was you. So, what was the entire purpose of this little set up, to get my mom to duel your friend? Too bad for you she's going to win."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

* * *

Kiara drew, bringing her Speed Counters up to one while her opponent got a third. "Sorry, James, but this duel is over. You should have taken out my Harakiri Shojo last turn. Sure, her effect destroys any monster that battles with her, inflict damage, and then return her to my hand when she's destroyed, but leaving her alive was even more dangerous. I summon Rose Warrior of Revenge." (1600/600) A beautiful red head appeared in a shower of rose petals. She wore a tight black suit and a long white scarf around her neck. "She's a Level 4 Tuner, so I'm tuning her with my Level 5 Harakiri Shojo!" Rose transformed into four stars, leaving a series of rose petals behind. They enveloped Harakiri Shojo as she smiled.

"Darkness turns sadism into lust, a tortured cry of pleasure reverberates in my ear. My heart stirs, I call out for your blood. Become mine now. Synchro Shokan Vampire Lilith!" (2700/2500) A sexier version of Lilith appeared on nthe field. She wore a strapless black dress that hugged her curves nicely. "Lilith has multiple dangerous effects. First of all, I can discard one card from my hand and pick a monster you control. I'll gain Life Points equal to its attack." She slipped her final card into the graveyard. "Go, Empress Fang!" Lilith flew forward and sunk her fangs into the ninja's neck. Rude Ninja convulsed as waves of pleasure and pain coursed through her body.

**Kiara: 3500**

"So, you increased your Life Points, big deal." James scoffed.

"I can also pay 1000 Life Points to revive any monster in my graveyard," Kiara explained with a smile. Lilith produced a small dagger and slit her writs. Blood poured onto the road, taking the form of Rose and Harakiri Shojo. "They can only stay out until my endphase though, so don't worry. Oh wait, maybe you should." Kiara grinned. "Malice grows into murderous intent, the night itself is my cloak, hiding my wrathful nature, those in my way tremble when they hear my name, Synchro Shokan Assassin Lilith!" (2900/2200) This time, Lilith wore a beautiful black kimono with a white bow around her waist.

**Kiara: 1500**

"H-how many versions of that card are there?"

"The answer is, a lot. Lilith was banished from the Garden of Eden for refusing to bow down to Adam, or something like that. I don't know and I don't care. What matters is this, Lilith represents powerful women everywhere."

"Wait, she dresses like a whore in some of those cards! Doesn't that imply negative things about women in general? How can you be hailing her as a role model and idol?!" James asked.

"Screw it, that doesn't matter. What matters is this. I can pay Life Points in multiples of 500 to select 1 face down spell or trap for each 500 Life Points paid, and then destroy them. In addition, you aren't allowed to chain to this effect." Kiara smiled. "So I pay 1000 Life Points to destroy your two face downs! Go, Valiant Will!" The newest Lilith charged forward and sliced through the two face downs.

**Kiara: ****500**

"Now finish this, Liliths unite, Femme Fatale Execution!" Vampire Lilith flew toward the ninja and chopped through her with a swipe of her nails. Assassin Lilith aimed directly at James, slicing him with her sword.

**James: 0**

The thief's D-Wheel screeched to a complete halt as Kiara pulled up at his side. "You lose."**  
**


End file.
